Now that I'm pretty settled into Raleigh I suppose it is time for me to get back into the grove of blogging....I have decided that I LOVE my apartment and apartment location. I am two minutes from I-40, ten minutes from a newly renovated Super-Wal-Mart, ten minutes from Target, five minutes from school, and it's super easy to give directions too. I also love the layout, having my own bathroom and large closet, and I like my clean, organized, and respectful apartment-mates.
I have decided that I DON'T like riding my road bike in Raleigh. I road this morning for an hour and a half and it was super annoying. Every time I found a good two lane country road it led me straight to a large intersection. I asked some other bikers that I saw where was a good place to ride and they gave me some suggestions that I will try next week. I do however live about five minutes from a lake that has a five mile loop around it that I also LOVE running on.
I am an official "employee" (unpaid, that is) of Wake County as of yesterday when I went down to central office and got my teacher ID badge. I took a really good picture (YAY!) and I can now get into any Wake County sporting event free!....I saw this as a win/win situation (minus the "unpaid" part).
My roommate, Allison, and I went to the local farmers' market this morning where I bough some peaches and a green pepper. As for food, I have been cooking in large quantities and then eating off that particular meal for several days. Last night I cooked some rice and mixed vegetables in "sofrito" (a Puerto Rican classic of cilantro, onion, and garlic that they use to flavor about everything they eat). I also grilled some chicken that I like to have around for salads or to add to my rice.
In Destino news.... Last week we had a leadership meeting to begin planning for the year. In addition to Holly (our Campu Crusade Coach) we now also have Justin. Justin graduated from State in 2004 and then worked in Argentina with Crusade for 4 years. He should be a great addition to our leadership group. Also, tonight we are having a SURPRISE going away party for Ekaterina who is leaving us for a 9 month intership in Georgia. We are going to miss her!
(Ekaterina pictured here....)
I am enjoying my methods class (a 7-week "teach you how to teach" class). I'm finding it informative. We are currently in our FLES (foreign languages in Elementry schools) section. All of us are certified to teach kindergarten through 12th grade so we spend time studying each grade level and specific teaching techiniques. Yesterday I had to teach my Elementry School Lesson and I LOVED it. The idea in FLES is that you create a content specific lesson and through focusing on the content the young children just pick-up vocabulary and grammar. In FLES you can't just write notes on the board because the kids can't even read yet. So you just speak to them in Spanish the whole time and you have to be very repetitive. I had an abosolute blast teaching my lesson. My content focus was "patterns" and my grade level was 1st grade. Through my lesson, in addition to learning how to complete patterns, the kids were able to learn the words (in Spansh) for pattern, circle, square, triangle, boy, girl, green, blue, and red...and they took ZERO notes. I'm glad I will have the option to teach young children because I really did enjoy it.
(Pattern artifacts picture here....)
So, if you made it to the bottom I give you a "star"! (because teachers are no longer permitted to give out candy in Wake County.....LAME!)
